


of crushes and coffee

by corinnana



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, Volleyball Dorks in Love, kenma is the friend we all need
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:42:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25089367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corinnana/pseuds/corinnana
Summary: “Welcome to the Crow’s Nest Cafe,” the barista grumbled, clearly reciting something from a script.Shouyou noticed that his deep scowl contrasted with the gleaming white nametag that was neatly pinned on his apron, emblazoned with a smiley face and the words Hi, my name is KAGEYAMA!Kageyama glared down at him. “What can I get for you today?”“Uh,” Shouyou sputtered.-Or, the thought of going to a certain cafe just because of an attractive barista was preposterous to Shouyou - until he entered the Crow’s Nest Cafe and met the most gorgeous person he’d ever seen.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 32
Kudos: 311





	of crushes and coffee

**Author's Note:**

> this is just self-indulgent fluff with a coffeeshop au, ft. karasuno. mostly with gratuitous descriptions of how good looking kageyama is because both shouyou and i are simps for him (as we should be).
> 
> i love kageyama and hinata, aka dumb and dumber. there's also some background kuroken and daisuga if you squint.
> 
> hope you enjoy!

Shouyou had never understood why people frequented certain cafes just because one of the baristas there happened to be attractive.

He’d been around good-looking people, of course he had - he was surrounded by them: Oikawa with his stately elegance and flirtatious winks, Akaashi with his spectacular eyes and quiet beauty, Kuroo with his devilish smiles and mussed hair. It was unfair, really, just how many good-looking people Shouyou found himself around. Especially since he didn’t think he was all that handsome himself.

Shouyou thought he was somewhat immune to the beauty of others. After being constantly bombarded with the attention of Bokuto and Iwaizumi and even Kenma of all people, his heart barely even fluttered at the sight of them. Good-looking people came a dime a dozen. All his friends were gorgeous; it was just a fact of life.

The thought of going to a certain cafe just because of an attractive barista was preposterous to Shouyou - until he entered the Crow’s Nest Cafe and met the most gorgeous person he’d ever seen.

“Welcome to the Crow’s Nest Cafe,” the barista grumbled, clearly reciting something from a script. 

Shouyou noticed that his deep scowl contrasted with the gleaming white nametag that was neatly pinned on his apron, emblazoned with a smiley face and the words Hi, my name is KAGEYAMA! 

Kageyama glared down at him. “What can I get for you today?”

“Uh,” Shouyou sputtered.

The barista, Kageyama, narrowed his eyes at Shouyou, who noticed with a start that his irises were very, very blue. Shouyou could imagine Akaashi writing poetry about that shade of blue, that vivid dark gray-blue that reminded him of ripples in ponds at midnight and pools under night skies. They were the kind of eyes that Shouyou could stare at forever, eyes framed by thick, dark lashes that fluttered as the barista continued to frown.

“I said,” the barista muttered, leaning back and crossing his arms, “what can I get for you today?” 

Shouyou thought distantly that even his voice was pleasant, a low baritone with a hint of huskiness.

Behind the counter, an older man with dye-blonde hair held back by a hairband swatted the barista with a rolled-up newspaper. He was leaning casually on a wooden stool and lacked the black apron that seemed to be the standard uniform, so Shouyou assumed he was the manager. “Kageyama, work on being less hostile to the customers.”

“Yeah, yeah, Ukai,” Kageyama said in response. He turned to Shouyou, and his inky black hair swished as he moved. His tone was still decidedly hostile. “Well?”

Shouyou gulped. “What do you recommend?”

A line was forming at the cash register that he was holding up. The man directly behind Shouyou sighed.

Kageyama arched a perfect eyebrow at him, and he somehow managed to look attractive even with the ridiculous little crooked frown he had on his face. Shouyou wondered if this was how model scouts felt upon discovering new talents, beholding raw beauty. Kageyama even had the height and physique of a catwalk model, two things Shouyou sorely lacked. 

The tall barista frowned down at Shouyou. “Black coffee. Or milk.”

Shouyou did not like black coffee, and he’d thought that baristas would have more creative coffee recommendations, but he only nodded eagerly in response. He was not about to order plain milk at a coffeeshop. “Okay, black coffee it is!”

Kageyama grunted. “What size?”

“Uh, grande?” 

The man behind Shouyou in the line groaned openly.

“We’re not a Starbucks,” the barista said with another scowl. “We’ve got small, medium, and large.”

Shouyou realized that he couldn’t stomach more than a small black coffee, and he’d been told he didn’t really need the caffeine, anyway. “Small,” he corrected himself, blushing. 

“For here or to go?”

“To go,” Shouyou said. He wished he could stay at the cafe longer, just to gaze at this beautiful stranger, but he had a nine AM class with Kenma. And if he missed it, there would be hell to pay from his friend and his professor.

“Name?”

“Huh?”

Kageyama pinched the bridge of his nose. He seemed to be counting to three under his breath. “What’s your name, shrimp?”

The manager, Ukai, leaned over and batted at Kageyama with the newspaper. “Kageyama. _Behave_.”

“My name’s Hinata Shouyou,” Shouyou said. He pointedly ignored the shrimp comment. 

“Small black coffee to go,” the barista muttered as he violently jabbed at the cash register. “That’ll be one dollar and eighty-nine cents.”

Shouyou handed him a crinkled five dollar bill he’d found in the pocket of Kenma’s hoodie. Kageyama deftly picked up the necessary change, handing it back to him in a fluid motion. He had nice hands, Shouyou mused to himself. They looked well-maintained, somehow pretty even with the calluses and tendons and veins.

“Your change is three dollars and eleven cents, and your order'll be ready at the counter over there,” Kageyama said monotonously, already turning his gaze to the person next in line. His ears were a little bit red, and Shouyou wondered if it was from irritation or something else. “Next.”

* * *

Kenma regarded the small black coffee that Shouyou had set down on the desk next to him with suspicion.

“Why’d you order it black in the first place?” Kenama picked the cup up with his sweater paws, blew on the drink in a way that reminded Shouyou of a kitten, and took a tentative sip. He took another. “You _hate_ black coffee.”

“I got flustered, okay?” Shouyou tried to make sense of the chemistry equations on the paper in front of him before giving up and setting it aside. 

Kenma gave him a look over the paper cup.

Shouyou leaned back in his chair. They were in the library, huddled over chem problem sets and hoping desperately that Kuroo would come to save them and give them some much needed help. “The barista was… cute.”

“Cute,” Kenma echoed, blowing a strand of hair out of his face. “Like, Natsu as a five-year-old cute? Or cute as in hot?”

“Well,” Shouyou said, fidgeting with his calculator. “I guess it’s more like cute as in hot.”

“Someone at Nekoma Coffeehouse is _hot_? I can’t believe it.” 

“Kenma, your boyfriend works at Nekoma.” Shouyou thought of Kuroo charming the regulars who visited. “And all your other friends, too.”

Kenma sipped the coffee, unsmiling. “I meant what I said.”

Shouyou shook his head. “Actually, I didn’t go to Nekoma, I went to the Crow’s - what was it called again? Crow’s Cafe?”

“The Crow’s Nest Cafe,” Kenma said. “Kuro told me about it. Competing establishments and all. Apparently, Nekomata and the Crow’s owner are longtime rivals.”

“Right. Nekoma was closed for plumbing repairs or something this week, so I thought I’d try out the new place across the street.”

“Well, was it any good?”

“The cafe itself was pretty okay, if that’s what you mean.” Shouyou didn’t remember much other than the barista. Kageyama was a nice name, Shouyou thought to himself. It suited the barista. Him and his black hair and blue eyes and stupidly nice face.

“And the barista you mentioned?” 

Shouyou hoped the red tips of his ears didn’t give him away. “Also pretty okay.”

Kenma hummed knowingly. “Well, their coffee isn’t complete shit. So it’s good to know I have a back-up in case I don’t want to go to Nekoma anymore.” He fixed Shouyou with a shrewd stare. “Are _you_ planning to go back?”

“Well,” Shouyou said weakly. “I don’t know.”

Kenma rolled his eyes and downed the rest of the coffee, leaving Shouyou to wonder absently at how Kenma tolerated four times the recommended daily dose of caffeine every day without imploding or dying. “That’s a yes, isn’t it?”

“It’s a maybe,” Shouyou protested, knowing full well that he’d be returning to the Crow’s Cafe or the Nest Cafe or whatever it was called the very next day.

* * *

He hadn’t known what he was expecting, but the hot barista seemed not to remember him and his blubbering, awkward order that next morning he stepped up to the counter at the Crow’s Nest Cafe.

Shouyou was a little dejected, but he tried to feel less like a desperate fangirl and more like a dignified twenty-something just casually picking up coffee from a local cafe. Ruffling his bright orange hair and bouncing up and down on his tiptoes, he hoped he would prove to be memorable enough to become a regular.

“Welcome to the Crow’s Nest Cafe,” Kageyama said, glancing up from the cash register. “What can I get for you today?”

“A medium iced latte with extra whipped cream to go, please,” Shouyou said firmly. He’d practiced his order while walking to the cafe, determined to not screw it up like he’d done the day before.

Kageyama nodded lazily. “Name?”

“Ah, it’s Hinata.”

At this, Kageyama looked up sharply, eyes narrowed. Shouyou thought for a moment that he would say something, make some noise of recognition or _anything_ , really, but he made no comment on it. “Medium iced latte with extra whip for here. That’ll be… three dollars and seventy-four cents.”

Shouyou looked up at the menu written in chalk above Kageyama. “Shouldn’t it be more than that?”

Kageyama’s eyes narrowed as he scowled. Shouyou was beginning to feel like that was his usual expression. “What did you say?”

“Shouldn’t the drink cost more than three dollars and seventy-four cents?” Shouyou asked, more meekly this time.

“I said it’s three seventy-four, so that’s how much it is. Just pay for your damn-” he coughed as Ukai turned from his stool at the end of the counter to glare at him. “Just pay for your coffee.” Then, like it pained him, he reluctantly added, “please.”

“Right,” Shouyou said slowly. He was seriously in doubt of his mathematical abilities, but he was almost eighty percent sure that medium lattes at fancy local cafes cost more than that. “Well, thanks, Kageyama!”

The barista grumbled again, and Shouyou caught something that sounded a lot like “shrimpy” again, but he didn’t even mind the nickname.

* * *

The next morning, Kageyama gave him a grudging nod of greeting. He’d been leaning forward against the counter in a way that shouldn’t have been attractive, but apparently Shouyou found everything about the barista beautiful. His arms were rolled up almost to the elbow, revealing pale forearms that bore his weight as he watched Shouyou enter the cafe.

“Welcome to the Crow’s Nest Cafe,” Kageyama said. Dark circles lined his eyes. “What can I get for you today?”

“You look like you could use a coffee,” Shouyou blurted before his brain could catch up to his mouth.

The barista glared at him. Shouyou noticed that his hair was a little messier, an untamed cowlick sticking up rather inconspicuously at his hairline. It was cute.

“Well, he’s not wrong,” the blonde barista behind Kageyama said. He turned to smirk smugly at them, and Shouyou caught the flash of amusement behind the barista’s glasses.

“What,” Kageyama ground through his teeth, “can I get for you?”

“Oh.” Shouyou recalled how much Kenma hated being called tired and immediately felt bad for his comment. “Medium iced latte, please. And thanks. And sorry.”

“Extra whip on that?”

“Right. Yes, sorry. Yes.”

Kageyama scoffed. “And to go?”

“Yes, please. Thank you. Sorry.”

“Stop apologizing.”

“Ah, sor-” Shouyou clapped a hand over his mouth and opted for a big nod.

Kageyama looked like he was trying to frown and smile at the same time, making for an odd expression that came out to be like a grimace. It was an ugly face to make, unflattering and wrinkly and pinchy, but Shouyou thought it was endearing. “Three dollars and seventy-four cents.”

“Here,” Shouyou said, handing over another five dollar bill.

Kageyama mechanically grabbed his change receipt from the cash registers. “Change is one dollar and twenty-six cents. Your order will be ready at the counter down there. Next.”

“Wait!” Shouyou clutched his change and receipt in his already full hands, trying not to drop his phone or wallet as he fumbled around. “You forgot to ask my name.”

Kageyama scowled. “I already know your name.”

“What - I’ve only been here, like, three times.”

Kageyama pointedly looked over Shouyou’s head at the next customer, a common habit of tall people that was absolutely infuriating to Shouyou. “Next in line, please,” he called.

“Wait, wait,” Shouyou said. “I’m not shrimpy or whatever you call me. Don’t write shrimpy on my cup, okay?”

“I already know your damn name,” Kageyama said under his breath, trying not to let any other customers or his manager hear him.

“Then what is it?”

“Hinata Shouyou,” he muttered, and Shouyou’s name had never sounded so nice to his ears. Kageyama stubbornly refused to make eye contact. “Now get out of the way, dumbass. There’s a line.”

“Well, I know your name, too!” Shouyou said as he went over to the counter to pick up his medium latte. “So you didn’t beat me, Kageyama!”

As he skipped out of the cafe, he didn’t miss the angry flush that had risen on Kageyama’s cheeks.

  
  


* * *

  
  


By now, Shouyou was pretty sure that the hot barista at the Crow’s Nest Cafe had his order memorized. Even if that barista didn’t want to admit it.

It’d been around a month since Shouyou stopped going to Nekoma Coffeehouse and started becoming a regular at the Crow’s Nest (“you’re a traitor,” Kenma had told him without much inflection in his voice). On most days, Kageyama was at the counter, wearing a well-fitting black apron, his stupid shiny nametag, and his stoic expression. He usually greeted Shouyou with a scowl.

The gaggles of preteen girls who liked to come to the cafe and order huge batches of frappuccinos like they were at Starbucks, much to Kageyama’s consternation, also liked to sit at the table closest to the table and ogle the barista. If Shouyou was being honest, he could totally relate to them, even if he wasn’t doing the same thing. Kageyama in his apron should have been a national treasure at that point.

Still, the point was that Kageyama definitely knew his name and his order by now, but he still asked what Shouyou wanted every time. 

Every day, Shouyou ordered a medium iced latte with extra whipped cream to-go. Every day, he handed Kageyama a crinkled five dollar bill and received a dollar, a quarter, and a penny in exchange. He’d been spending most of his spare change on coffee at this point, something that made him feel at once like an adult (still, a childish adult who couldn’t handle the bitterness of black coffee).

Shouyou wasn’t sure if Kageyama pretended not to know his order because he didn’t want to deviate from the opening lines he said to every customer or if it was because he didn’t want Shouyou to know that he’d remembered him, but Shouyou was flattered anyway. It was comforting to know that he stood out, at least a little bit, from the faceless customers who flitted in and out of the cafe. Maybe Kageyama had been struck by his cheerful nature or his cute smile or something. Maybe.

(Shouyou knew it was probably because of the bright orange hair, but he decided to ignore that fact.)

He’d been trying to make conversation with Kageyama every time he ordered, but Kageyama was really not the conversational type. Shouyou quickly learned that he had a bad sense of humor that perfectly corresponded with Shouyou own jokes and puns, so Shouyou had had the distinct pleasure of making Kageyama smile, and on one occasion, laugh a couple of times. Shouyou treasured those moments - Kageyama’s smiles were much rarer than his scowls.

Shouyou had also learned that Kageyama attended the same university as him, and he was the setter on the varsity indoor volleyball team (which explained why he had the body of a Greek god, Shouyou guessed). Shouyou played competitive beach volleyball, so they’d bonded over their shared hobby recently. Chattering about spikes and sets as Kageyama rang up his order made Shouyou feel warm and fuzzy in a way that not even a hot chocolate could replicate. 

Kageyama was much, much more than a pretty face. He wore a permanent scowl, was perpetually sullen, and made too many jokes at the expense of Shouyou’s height, but Shouyou didn’t hate it. 

He’d been complaining about him to Kenma, who was playing a video game while listening to Shouyou’s story. They were in Kenma and Kuroo’s dorm room, Kenma sitting cross-legged on Kuroo’s unmade bed and Shouyou sprawled on Kenma’s sheets.

“You think,” Kenma said, furiously gaming while somehow managing to maintain a conversation, “he has pretty eyes and a nice smile.”

“No!” Shouyou exclaimed. “Well, yes, he does. But it's not just that - he has a nice _everything_.”

"Ew."

Shouyou was tempted to toss a pillow at him, but he refrained. “I meant that I like everything about him. Like his personality.”

“Based on your stories, he sounds like he has an awful personality,” Kenma pointed out. “But so does Kuroo, and I’m still dating him, so I kind of understand.”

“Kageyama doesn’t have an awful personality,” Shouyou protested. He rolled onto his side and clutched a pillow to his chest. “He has a short temper and he makes ugly faces a lot, but his personality isn’t bad. I like it.”

“You like _him_ , you mean.”

“I do not!”

“So you like his eyes and his smile and his ass and his personality, but you don’t like him.” Kenma’s low laughter carried across the room. “Sure, Hinata.”

“I never said I liked his ass!”

“I thought that’s what you meant by his nice everything. It’s okay, Hinata. You don’t need to hide it.”

This time, Shouyou did throw the pillow at him.

* * *

Kenma was right - Shouyou liked Kageyama. Too much.

It wasn’t an infatuation anymore; it was more like a crush. The more Shouyou interacted with him, the more he liked him. He’d hoped that Kageyama would be one of those pretty boys who had some terrible trait that only revealed itself when they opened their mouths, but Kageyama wasn’t. He had his faults when he was tired or provoked - Shouyou knew this better than most customers, as he’d been the one provoking him most of the time - but he was genuinely a good person. The kind of person Shouyou wanted to be around all the time.

And he was very hot. That was definitely a plus.

But there was little chance that Kageyama would like him - Shouyou knew he was leagues below Kageyama, who probably was already going out with someone. Someone who could add to his beauty, not detract from it. Someone who was taller, or had more manageable hair, or was a smoother talker. Someone who wasn't Shouyou.

Shouyou entered the cafe that day with those bitter thoughts in his mind, thoughts of inadequacy and insecurity. He looked up, expecting to see Kageyama’s stony face, but he was faced instead with a warm smile.

“Welcome to the Crow’s Nest Cafe!” The boy behind the counter said. He had gray hair and a gentle expression on his face, and his oversized sweater underneath the black apron looked impossibly soft. “How’s your morning been so far?”

“Great.” Shouyou smiled back automatically. He glanced down at the barista’s nametag. _Hi, my name is_ _SUGA_! “How about you?”

“My morning’s been good, too.” Suga’s eyes crinkled when he smiled. “I don’t usually work mornings, but it’s a lot better than I thought it would be. And Daichi over here switched shifts with me.” He gestured to the barista behind him.

“Oh,” Shouyou said. “Where’s Kage - where’s the usual barista? The one that normally works on weekday mornings?”

“Ah, you mean Kageyama? Tall guy who doesn’t smile much?”

“Yeah.” Shouyou tried not to smile at the mention of his name. He felt like a middle schooler with a crush for the first time. “Is he, um, busy? Or sick?”

“I think he’s at a volleyball tournament for the day.” Suga straightened up and dusted off his apron. “Anyway, what would you like to order?”

Shouyou was glad to hear Kageyama wasn’t sick. “A medium iced latte with extra whipped cream to go, please.” 

“Would you like anything with that, or will that be all?”

“That’ll be all, thanks!” He noted that Sugawara as a barista was much different than Kageyama as a barista.

“Alright, your total is four dollars and eighty-six cents.”

Shouyou, who’d been about to pass his five dollar bill across the counter, hesitated. “How much?”

“Four dollars and eighty-six cents.” Suga repeated with a small smile, reaching for the money.

Shouyou handed over the bill hesitantly. “Not three dollars and seventy-four cents?”

“Ah,” Suga looked down at the screen. “Your order was a medium iced latte with extra whipped cream, right?”

“Right.” Shouyou paused. “I come here pretty often, and it’s usually three dollars and seventy-four cents. I guess I got confused.”

Suga glanced at the menu behind him and frowned, then turned to the other barista who was making drinks behind the counter. “Daichi,” he said. “Did we change menu prices recently?”

The barista named Daichi turned away from the espresso machine and shook his head. “No, they should've been the same for a few months now. What’s the matter?”

“He says his regular drink's usually cheaper, and he comes here a lot.”

“Hm.” Daichi came over Suga’s side of the counter, peering down at the cash register. His brow furrowed. “How much cheaper?”

“Like a dollar. He said it was about three seventy-four, really not much of a difference.”

“Sorry for all the trouble.” Shouyou cleared his throat, hoping that they wouldn’t think he was trying to cheat them out of a dollar. “I’m fine with paying the full amount for the drink, of course, I was just wondering why I’d been paying less before.”

Suga gave him a reassuring look. “No, no, it’s perfectly okay! No worries. We're happy to help nice customers.”

“It must be the employee discount,” Daichi said with a nod, turning back to the espresso machine. “Right, Suga?”

Shouyou blinked. “The what?”

“Oh, the employee discount!” Suga pressed something on the cash register. “Sorry, I didn’t realize that you and Kageyama were so close. Okay, your new total’s three dollars and seventy-four cents.”

“Uh, hold on,” Shouyou said. “I’m a little confused. What employee discount? I don’t work here.”

Suga was already handing him his receipt and change. “Employees here can give a thirty percent discount to whomever they want, usually to people close to them, as long as it doesn’t get out of hand. I didn’t realize Kageyama had given the discount to you, which is my fault.”

Shouyou hadn’t realized it either. “He never told me he gave me a discount.”

“Well, doesn’t that sound like him?” Suga laughed and pointed to the end of the counter. “Your order will be over there when it’s ready, okay? Thanks for coming to the Crow’s Nest!”

“Right. Thank you,” Shouyou bowed hurriedly.

After he’d picked up his coffee and was heading towards campus, he took a look at the receipt. Usually, he crumpled it up and stuck it into his pocket or threw it in the trashcan on his way out the door, but today, he scanned it with interest.

 _Employee discount (30%) *** -1.12_.

Shouyou slipped the receipt into his pocket and took a sip of his iced coffee, still utterly confused but set on finding answers. 

* * *

Shouyou burst into the Crow’s Nest Cafe the next morning, the bell above the door jingling loudly to announce his entrance. “Kageyama!” he yelled.

The barista and most of the customers in the coffee shop looked up. 

“Hinata,” Kageyama said as Shouyou approached him. “You seem… more energetic than usual today.”

Shouyou ignored him and slammed his receipt down on the counter. “What’s this about?”

“What, you want a refund? Did I screw up your order?”

“No, nothing like that.” Shouyou jabbed his index finger on the offending line of text on the receipt. “It says _employee discount_.”

Kageyama’s eyes widened. 

“My question is,” Shouyou said, “what’s with the employee discount? Suga said it’s for people close to employees, but we’re-” He cut himself off and blinked. “Um. Distant acquaintances. Or something.”

Kageyama had begun to turn faintly pink. “My finger must have slipped when I was ringing up your order.”

“But it’s on every receipt I have,” Shouyou lied. 

He wasn’t sure if it was true, but based on the price of all of his past coffees, he thought there was a chance it might be correct. He’d been a little offended by the fact that Kageyama clearly didn’t think he could pay for his own orders. Shouyou wondered if the messy orange bedhair, wrinkled shirts, and half-open backpack gave Kageyama that impression.

Kageyama opened his mouth and closed it again, repeating this motion until the words finally came out. “Um. My finger slips a lot.”

The barista behind Kageyama, the same tall blonde with glasses that Shouyou had seen before, snickered. “Smooth, Kageyama. Very smooth.”

He scowled. “Shut it, Tsukishima.”

“I don’t need your employee discounts,” Shouyou said, determined to make his point. “I might look like a broke college student - okay, I might _be_ a broke college student, but that doesn’t mean I can’t pay for my own coffee.” 

Kageyama was turning from pink to red. “I didn’t-”

“I’ll pay you back for all those discounts!” Shouyou declared, opening his wallet. “All of them. I don’t know how much it is, but I’ll pay it all back.”

“You don’t-” Kageyama exhaled forcefully. “That’s not necessary.”

“But I’m decreasing the sales of the cafe! I feel guilty.”

“Dumbass, the cafe's sales are fine. It’s only a couple of dollars. Just leave it alone.”

“No,” he said stubbornly. “I’m paying it back.”

“I didn’t give you the discounts because I didn’t think you could pay for the coffee,” Kageyama muttered, ears scarlet. 

Shouyou, who had been thrusting his wallet forward and desperately fishing out dollar bills, stopped abruptly. “Then why’d you give me the discounts, Kageyama?”

“I just-” Kageyama looked like he wanted the earth to swallow him whole. “I just thought,” he said, “you were cute.”

Tsukishima chuckled as Shouyou’s jaw dropped. Kageyama turned and tried to kick Tsukishima in the shin, but he dodged as Kageyama’s foot connected with the hard counter.

“You _what?!”_ Shouyou sputtered. “You think I’m cute?”

Kageyama was grimacing and scowling at the same time. It was an expression only Kageyama could make look food, Shouyou thought absently to himself. 

“Well, don’t make me say it again,” Kageyama muttered.

“Me?” Shouyou repeated, still unable to process. “Cute?”

“He has a crush on you, shrimpy,” Tsukishima called over his shoulder. “Get over it and order your coffee. There’s a line behind you.”

Shouyou was still stammering.

“Hinata,” Kageyama said after a period of awkward silence. His eyes were darting around Shouyou’s face, like he wanted to look him in the eye but was too flustered to do so. His voice was hushed to prevent anyone in the line from hearing him. “I’m sorry about the discounts. I didn’t realize you didn’t like them. And, I’m sorry about Tsukishima.”

“He said you have a crush on me,” Shouyou pointed out, his voice sounding faint. The thought of _Kageyama has a crush on me Kageyama has a crush on me Kageyama has a crush on me_ had been repeating in his brain like a mantra for the past minute.

Kageyama exhaled shortly again, blowing some of his perfect black hair off of his furrowed forehead. “Well, I do.”

“Oh.”

“And I’d really like it if I could, um, take you out some time.”

“Take me out?” Shouyou echoed, his voice creeping higher into a squeak.

“Like on a date.” If possible, Kageyama was turning even redder.

“Right. Okay. A date. With you.”

“Is that,” Kageyama paused and swallowed audibly, “is that a yes? You like me, too?”

Tsukishima coughed loudly. “There’s a _line_. Do I need to get Ukai to break up your lovefest?”

Kageyama aimed a kick at Tsukishima once more before turning back to Shouyou, eyes wide.

“It’s a yes.” Shouyou was still in a state of disbelief. “I like the discounts. And I like you. I _really_ like you. More than you like me, probably.”

Kageyama was giving him a smile that was quite possibly Shouyou’s New Favorite Kageyama expression, a mixture of fondness and happiness that Shouyou wanted to see every moment of every day for the rest of his life. 

“I really don’t think it’s possible for you to like me more than I like you, Hinata,” Kageyama said.

Shouyou’s breath was quite literally taken away.

Kageyama was still smiling as he rang up a medium iced latte with extra whipped cream to go on the cash register. (So Shouyou had been right; Kageyama had his order memorized.)

Shouyou handed him a five dollar bill, but Kageyama shook his head and pulled a credit card from his pocket, scanning it before Shouyou could protest.

“I can pay for myself, Kageyama,” Shouyou said after Kageyama handed him a receipt and pointed him towards the end of the counter to pick up his drink.

“I pay for people I think are cute,” Kageyama replied. 

Shouyou couldn't help himself from asking, “Do you pay for a lot of people, then?” 

Kageyama hesitated as the next customer stepped forward to order. He turned to Shouyou, beckoning him to come closer to the counter.“No, I’ve only ever paid for one person," he whispered. "His name’s Hinata Shouyou and he’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.”

**Author's Note:**

> i feel like kageyama would work as a barista even if it meant dreaded customer interactions, and hinata is the type to chat with store employees. sometimes both are eloquent; sometimes both are stuttering messes.
> 
> if inspiration strikes, maybe i'll make a continuation expanding on their relationship and the cafe.
> 
> thanks so much for reading! kudos and feedback mean the world to me. <3


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